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22
THE ELIZABETHAN PEOPLE

he joins together as closely as possible, and his chief aim is not to gore the dog with the point of his horn, but to slide one of them under the dog's belly (who creeps close to the grouund to hinder it) and to throw him so high in the air that he may break his neck in the fall. This often happens. When the dog thinks he is sure of fixing his teeth, a turn of the horn, which seems to be done with all the negligence in the world, gives him a sprawl thirty foot high and puts him in danger of a damnable squetch when he comes down. This danger would be unavoidable if the dog's friends were not ready beneath him, some with their backs to give him a soft reception, and others with long poles which they offer him slantways, to the intent that sliding down them, it may break the force of the fall. Notwithstanding all this care, a toss generally makes him sing to a very scurvy tune and draw his phis into a very pitiful grimace. But, unless he is totally stunned with the fall, he is sure to crawl again towards the bull, with his old antipathy, come on't what will. Sometimes a second frisk into the air disables him forever from playing his old tricks. But sometimes, too, he fastens upon his old enemy, and when he has seized him with his teeth, he sticks to him like a leech, and will sooner die than leave his hold. Then the bull bellows and bounds and kicks about to shake off the dog; by